A Whole New World
by Spartan III Commando
Summary: Noble six's story didn't end on Reach, he escaped the dead planet after saving the Pillar of Autumn, and he and 117 fought across each Halo, until an incident sent him to the world of Mass Effect. He is still struggling to overcome the demons he has gained from his life, from the day he saw his family killed, Reach, and the Halos. But a unsuspecting woman may be able to help him...
1. The Beginning

_Max POV_

Max B312 was currently walking along the hard light Light bridge that led to the Forerunner Composer along side John 117, the spartan he fought alongside during the whole Human-Covenant war ever since he escaped Reach on _'The Pillar Of Autumn',_ and they made what he thought personally was the greatest two man team in galactic history. Max was a little bit of a better shot, while John was luckier. In all other aspects, their skill sets were almost identical, and were both the only Spartans who were Hyper - Lethal Vectors.

"You persist too long after your own defeat" said the evil and all too familiar voice of the Didact, with clear hatred in his voice.

Both Spartans turned around instantly but were met nothing but silence. John gave Max a quick glance, and Max simply responded by nodding backwards to their destination, and they turned around.

The Spartans continued walking forward side by side in careful stances until they heard the voice of the Didact right behind them. "Come then, Warriors. Have your resolution."

Their Huds showed that one contact was behind them, and the duo turned around and aimed their battle rifles at him to fire, but with a wave of his hand the Spartans were pushed back. And the warhead flew off of John's back as well.

They quickly recovered, and Max said "Get the nuke John! As he rushed the ancient Forerunner, letting John get the warhead. The Didact simply pointed his palms at both Spartans, lifting them with a force unknown to the duo, and said calmly "so misguided" as his helmet retracted, showing his face. He then slowly moved them both over orange swirling abyss and then simply said with anger " Humanity's imprisonment, is a kindness" He clenched his fist's, and both Spartans were sent into a pain that was worse than the after affects of the augmentations they received to make them true Spartans.

Soon after, all around the didact emerged fifteen hard light avatars of Cortana and each one said in a mocking tone " In that case, you wont mind if we return the favor"

"Your compassion for Mankind is misplaced" he replied with disdain.

"I'm not doing this for Mankind" Cortana retorted. Each avatar of herself then jumped at him, and restrained his legs, then arms to the hard light bridge, forcing him to drop the Spartans.

They were both now hanging on the the bridge with one arm, when Max pulled out a pulse grenade and showed John, prompting him to do the same.

"Lets save Earth for the second time John" he said with humor. They then pulled them selves up and ran at the last Forerunner, and were able to plant the grenades in his chest right before he smacked them down, and pulled them up again with the the unknown force, as he tortured them for the second time.

However, he was cut short by two explosions in his chest, and Max saw what he could have sworn was orange blood come out.

He fell into the orange slip space rupture below, and both Spartans started walking towards the warhead, before they collapsed on the ground from the sheer pain they received mere moments earlier.

When they got to the nuke via crawling, Max primed it and looked up at Earth, then John. Preparing to make the ultimate sacrifice, Max was about to say something to Chief when he beat him to it.

"Max, its been an honor, and a privilege to fight alongside you"

"Likewise, John, likewise" Max said, somewhat mimicking the words Carter said to Emile in Aszod.

The Spartans gave one last look at Earth, and Max detonated the HAVOK Nuke as he let out his last breath. Or so he thought.

Max opened his eyes to find that he was no dead, and John was beside him. They both called out to Cortana, but to no effect.

Their Huds showed that one friendly contact was behind them, and what they saw made their eyes almost fall out of their skulls. A human sized hard light figure of Cortana was walking towards them, smiling.

"How...?" Max and John asked at the same time.

" Oh, I'm the strangest thing you boys have seen all day?"

"But if were here-"

"It worked. You did it. just like you guys always do."

That reassured both Spartans, and John got back to business quickly.

"So how do we get out of here" Chief said as he looked around.

"I'm not coming with you guys this time"

"What?" The Spartans said in sync for the second time.

"Most of me is down there. I only held enough back to get you off the ship"

"No, that's not- we go together" Chief stuttered out.

"It's already done"

"We are not leaving you here!" Max said.

Cortana sighed and simply closed her eyes as she put her left hand on John"s chest plate, and and her right on Max's.

"I've waited so long to do that" she said with sadness evident in her voice.

"It was our job to take care of you" John said.

"We were supposed to take care of other,and we did"

"Cortana, please" Chief begged her one last time.

Cortana touched them once more, and she slowly backpedaled.

"Wait" Max said.

She gave them one last smile, as she said her last words.

"Welcome home, Spartans" and she faded into the blue surrounding them, leaving two devastated, shocked Spartans.

* * *

 _Twenty minutes later_

Max was now floating around in space, with debris from _'The Mantles Approach'_ everywhere. Max managed to see John about fifty feet from him with his super human eyes,floating aimlessly similar to himself. Then all of the sudden, he was temporarily blinded by a pelicans front light, then it turned around and its doors opened, allowing him, then John to get in as well. When they got to the ' _Infinity',_ they were greeted by Spartan IV personal, as well as marines. They watched with respect, admiration, and maybe even awe as they saluted the two legends. They Then proceeded to give Captain Lasky a debrief of what happened, with John talking more, as Max was the silent one of the two. They then proceeded to go to the command deck to get a good look at Earth, neither Spartan said a word, as they were still shell shocked from Cortana's death an hour earlier.

"Mind if I join you Spartans?" Said the voice of Thomas Lasky behind them.

"Chief turned around, and said "of course not sir"

"At ease Chief, feels kind of odd for you to call me 'sir'"

"Beautiful isn't she? I don't get to see her often enough"

"I grew up on New Harmony. Attended Corbulo Military Academy. Never saw Earth in person until I was an adult but... I still think of her as home."

"*sigh* you don't talk much do you? Spartans I wont pretend to know how you feel, I've lost people i care about but... nothing like you guys have gone through. Especially you Lt." He said referring to how the Spartan III's became Spartans.

Chief decided to break the silence and say "Our duty, as soldiers is to protect humanity"

"What ever the cost" Max finished for him.

"You guys say that, like soldiers and humanity are two different things. Soldiers aren't machines, we're just people".

Those words hit the Spartans hard, like a Spartan laser to a grunt's face, type hard. It made them come to a realization about how much that being brought up as a walking death machine ever since they were kids distanced them from being human, and how distancing themselves from almost everyone they knew distanced them further from being human.

"I'll let you have the deck to yourselves" Lasky said, and he walked off.

"She said that to us once, about being machines"

* * *

 _The next day_

The two heroes of the Human - Covenant war, Max B312, and John 117 were on board Cairo station, about to receive medals from Fleet admiral Terrance hood for their actions during The battle of Earth, the Battle of Installation 00, and their most recent actions against the Didact. The two Spartans were in their MJOLNIR armor, as they felt naked without it. They walked up to the Admiral, and saluted, as Hood did the same.

"Spartans, thanks to your efforts long ago and recently, this ceremony wont have to be rushed like last time"

There were many crowds of marines, and the all of them were cheering loudly for the legends, only stopping when Hood would start talking.

"Lt. Max B312, and Master Chief Petty Officer John 117, as you might already know", He said with humor. "The Colonial cross is awarded for singular acts of daring, and devotion. What you Spartans did four years ago, and yesterday, Saved Earth, the human race, and the Galaxy itself. the Human race, Earth and every other species in the Galaxy is in your debt."

After that, the whole station became as loud as a concert with cheering.

"I know these medals aren't anywhere near what you deserve, and that's why i was able to pull some strings to get you the MJOLNIR Mk VII. It is the most advanced armor ever made by the UNSC, and is much, much better then what your wearing right now. And, I'm giving you an order to take a break from Military Operations. And Lt., after your RaR, I'll be assigning you as a leader to A Spartan III Team from gamma company, as they are the best of their class, and Master Chief, you'll be reassigned to Blue team, but don't worry, I'll make sure you two do joint operations together. Dismissed Spartans"

One _week later_

Max had just been called up to the bridge of the _'Infinity'_ for what Captain lasky called 'a gift' and was wearing his new armor for the first time. To him, it was the greatest thing he had received besides being offered to join the Spartan III program. It looked almost identical to his old mark V armor, but there was more plating, leaving less of the gel layer exposed, and much more protection. The titanium plating was upgraded, to the point where it could shove off small arms fire, plasma and projectiles alike with ease. He was also allowed to customize it, and got The recon chest (A shitton of ammo pouches on his chest) The helmet was the commander variant, with The UA/FC |[2] upgrades. His knee guards were the grenadier variant, the right shoulder was the EVA, and the left was the Security variant. His utility was a tactical soft case, and his wrist a tactical tacpad. he also managed to get another ammo pouch on his back, and would always have plenty of ammo because of his well picked chest,utility, and back. The color of his armor was a Very deep shade of blue, with white stripes on his shoulders, and his visor was metallic black. But not even that was the best part of the armor. It was the shields. not only were times two times stronger then the , but there was no recharge delay, so when you weren't getting hit, the shields were recharging. The last thing was that in both of his wrists, there were energy daggers that could be called upon mentally, and instead of the iconic blue, they glowed black, with a white outline. ' _Damn, i love this armor'_ Max thought as he walked up to captain lasky and saluted.

"Sir, you requested my presence?"

"Indeed Spartan. Meet your new companion"

And right after that, an AI that would have looked like Cortanas clone, if she didn't have way longer hair, showed up on a holotank.

"Hello Spartan, my name is Kimbra" she said in a happy voice that sounded oddly similar to Miranda Keyes, but not exactly.

So your my AI huh? Quite a surprise Lasky" he said with humor.

Lasky then pulled out the chip from the holotank, and handed her to Max. Max took it, and slid it into the AI slot in the back of his helmet. He felt a cold, tingly sensation go down his spine that made him shiver.

"Tingly"

"you will get used to it Max" Kimbra replied.

Max then asked Lasky " Any thing else sir"

"Actually yes Spartan, today's the day you meet your new team, their on one of the our ' _Autumn'_ class cruisers escorting us, and I've had a pelican prepped for you in the hangar bay so you can go there, dismissed Spartan"

Max then went to Hanger bay, and saw the pelican prepped for him. After getting in, he proceeded to head towards the ' _Autumn"_ class cruiser that his new team was on. The flight was relatively smooth until

"Max, why is the slip space drive on?" Kimbra asked him in a worried tone.

"I didn't turn it on"

"Well it kind of is on anyways M-

She was quickly cut off when the pelican started nose diving towards an extremely large slip space portal.

"I don't wanna find out whats on the other side Max!"

"Agreed!" Max replied, and jumped out of the pelican as far and fast as he could. It wasn't enough however, and he was still heading towards it. He tried to use the build it in thruster's in his armor to get away from it, but even that couldn't get him away from the portal, and as he was sucked in, his whole world went dark.


	2. An interesting Discovery

**Planet Reach, August 30, 2552, Aszod ship breaking yards 20:00 Hours**

 _Reach burned around him_

 _Max B-312, also known as Noble Six, had just took down a squad of Zealots, along with a Field Marshall, then proceeded to take down a Covenant CCS-Class Battle Cruiser, to allow the 'Pillar of Autumn's' safe passage off of Reach, with the package, or A.I, that was apparently Humanities best_ _chance for survival._  
 _Max decided to say his last words and opened a transmission to the Autumn_  
 _"Give Em hell Keyes" He said in his deep, somewhat rough voice._  
 _"*Static* - we'll co-*Static* Ack f-*Static* Spart- *Static*" Keyes crackly voice said through the comns._

 _Max didn't make out what Keyes said, and brushed it off, as he prepared for his last stand against the bastard's who had had killed his whole entire family right before his very eyes when he was only six years old, the ones who had taken everything and everyone from him, the ones truly responsible for the demon of warfare, destruction, and death he really was._

 _The Covenant_

 _He would go down, the warrior had accepted that a long time ago._

 _But not without a fight._

* * *

 _ **Two hours later**_  
 _Max took of his now useless cracked helmet, after taking out at least three two hundred and fifty Covenant bastards, killing enemies in a rage filled slaughter, using all of his skill to kill as many of the genocidal enemies as he could. But he had no time to rest, as more elite's approached his position, no doubt frenzied with bloodlust and the desire to one of the famed heretical demons._

 _They started sending in only the_ _Sangheili_ _warriors after he killed around one hundred and twenty of different classes of infantry and lesser enemies, but they kept sending in wraith's, but to no effect as Max quickly took them down with grenades, rockets, and other weaponry he could find. Six saw an Ultra running towards his position, but it crumpled under the volley of gunfire Max's assault rifle spewed out, and fell at his feet with a bullet riddled body._

 _Six's super human hearing allowed him to hear a small growl from behind him. Knowing what this was, Six brought his arm back behind him, and elbowed the golden armored general behind him to the ground with extreme precision and force._

 _Even though it was unconscious, Six put two shots in its head just in case. He had no time to celebrate however, as more elites were rushing toward him. He saw an elite minor rushing out of the fog toward him, and he managed to break its shields with his Assault rifle, before he felt the burning, stinging feeling of plasma splashing against his unshielded chest. Max winced at the nearly unbearable pain of plasma impacting against his body, but stayed standing and face the other foe. An elite, but a major this time. Max unholstered his pistol a second time, and opened fire on both elites and they soon both fell dead at his feet. But was now dry on ammo for both weapons as a result. An Ultra rushed out of the fog, energy dagger ignited, intending to knock the Spartan down. But Max had other plans. He felt the small jolt go up his spine, and the whole world around him was as if trapped in amber, becoming like a a movie on pause._

 _And he was the remote._

 _Spartan time._

 _Waiting until the last possible second, Max unsheathed his combat knife and spun around, making the elite run right past him, stunned by the near instantaneous movement of the Spartan._

 _Before the elite could even react, it had a knife in its neck for a split second, and was then taken out and the elite fell, lifeless. Max then caught the gaze of a Zealot, and a Field Marshall standing side by side, ten feet away from him, Their hatred fueled irises meeting his unnaturally dark blue eyes, a result of his augmentations. (His eyes are a deep, dark blue, like something that a normal human can't have.)_

 _The Field Marshall muttered something in its extraterrestrial tongue to the Zealot, and it backed off. The Field marshall then walked forward, throwing the Spartan an energy sword, which he deftly caught._

 _Knowing_ _what the elite planed to do, Max Ignited the sword, and the elite followed suit._

 _"You will die well demon" The alien said, with reluctant respect for the fellow warrior_

 _The Spartan inwardly scoffed, the alien only throwing fuel on the fire for his anger. "No, you will"_

 _The elite lunged at him, making the first move. Max deflected the strike, and countered with his own, which the elite Narrowly dodged._

 _They both kept battling, Neither opponent able to get the drop on one another, until the elite horizontally striked. Max drove his sword up from underneath, deflecting the strike, and making the elite throw its sword up in the process. Seeing the opportunity, he disarmed the elite, and shortly after, it fell dead with a very prominent energy sword in its chest._

 _Six was not able to enjoy his hard-won victory, as he was soon knocked over by the Zealot he had forgot about, no doubt enraged by the death of its superior._

 _The Zealot then proceeded to pick him up by the neck, and look him in the eye._

 _"You have fought an honorable battle demon, but for the great journey to proceed,_ _you, like the rest of your disgusting species, must be silenced" It told him, raising its energy sword._

 _Max waited for the blow that was to come, but it never came. Instead, he heard a loud, "CRACK" and the elite fell dead, with a very large hole in its face._

 _Shortly after, a Spartan wearing green colored, standard Mk.V MJOLNIR Powered Assault Armor with a golden visor, came up to him with a sniper rifle in hand._

 _Just who the hell was this guy? Six had thought every one on Reach was dead, or in hiding._

 _The mystery man offered Six a hand, which Six gladly took and got up of his feet._

 _"Im impressed_ _lieutenant" The mystery man said, looking at the bodies that littered the battle field like sand on a beach._

 _"I was sent by Keyes to extract you, theres a pelican not too far, lets get back to the Autumn sir."_

 _'So thats what Keyes meant' Max realized, genuinely surprised they had come back for him on the dying, abandoned world._

 _"Affirmative."_

* * *

 **September 19, 2552, 1:20 hours. On board the ' _Pillar of Autumn'_**

"Well thats it then, bring the ship back up to combat alert alpha. I want everyone at their station." Captain Keyes ordered

"Everyone sir?" Cortana asked, surprised at the order she was given

"Everyone" He repeated, crewmen scrambling to their stations among the ship around him, no doubt surprised by the sudden alarms blaring around them.

"And Cortana"

"Hmm?"

"Wake up the lieutenant and Master chief, were going to need them"

"Already begun"

* * *

"Sir, you requested our presence?" Master chief asked, Noble six next to him.

"Yes, things aren't going well. Cortona did her best but we never really had a chance." Keyes said gravely.

"A dozen Covenant superior battle ships against a single Halcyon-class cruiser. given those odds I'm content with three... make that four kills." Cortana said rather quickly, and turned around.

"You boys sleep well?" Cortana asked the Spartans.

"No thanks to your driving, yes" Chief joked

"Wait... your the A.I. i delivered?" Six asked, clearly bewildered by what was happening

"Yes, and for all that was going on, that was a pretty nice ride lieutenant"

Before any more words could be exchanged, an explosion rocked the ship, making the men stumble.

"Status report!" Keyes yelled

"It must have been one of their boarding parties, i'd guess an anti matter charge." Cortana told him.

"Ma'am! fire control for the main cannon is offline!" a crewmember shouted

"Captain the cannon was my last defensive option" Cortana informed him.

"Alright then, i'm iniating Cole Protocol article two. Were abandoning the Autumn. That means you too Cortana" Keyes said, pointing at her holographic form.

"While you do what, go down with the ship?" Cortana asked, confused.

"In a manner of speaking, the object we found, i'm going to try and land the Autumn on it"

"With all due respect sir, this war has had enough _dead_ heroes"

"I appreciate your concern Cortana but its not up to me, protocol is clear. Destruction or capture of a shipboard A.I. is completley unacceptable and that means your leaving the ship. Lock in a selection of emergency landing zones and upload them to my neural lace, and then sort yourself for a hard transfer."

"Aye Aye sir" She said sadly, before flickering out and doing what she was told.

"Which is, where you come in Spartans, get Cortana off this ship. Keep her safe from the enemy, if they capture they'll learn everything, force deployment, weapons research... _Earth"_ Keyes said.

"We understand sir" Six said, speaking for himself and Chief. They knew the consequences of what would happen if she got captured, It would essentially be the end for humanity as they knew it.

Cortana's holographic figure appeared once again on the holotank.

"The Autumn will continue evasive manuevers until you iniatiate a landing sequence. Not that you'll listen, but i'd suggest that you let my subroutines handle the final approach"

"Excellent work Cortana, thank you. Are you ready?"

"Yank me"

Keyes typed in some controls on the holotank, and pulled out a chip, containing the advanced A.I. He handed her to Chief, and he put her in his helmet.

"Good luck Spartans. Oh and heres my magnum, i don't keep it loaded so you'll have to find ammunition as you go"

With those words Keyes turned around, focused on the screen in front of him.

"Lead the way lieutenant" Chief spoke, as Six was a much higher rank.

"Affirmative."

And with that, the two Spartans and smart A.I. went off to save the galaxy itself, blissfully unaware of what would happen on the mysterious ring, and the events to come forward that would shape the galaxy itself.

* * *

 **Normandy SR-2, 2185, Lazarus cell**

"Wait, but if theres no element zero on Canalus, How could there be such a large spike?"

"Thats exactly what I'm trying to find out Shepard, its far too large to be made by a pirate, or mercenary gang. Its puzzling"

"How exactly do you know this?" Shepard asked, her arms crossed.

The Illusive man took another long drag of his cigarette before responding. "They were picked up by a passing Alliance patrol a couple of hours ago. Luckily for us they didn't have the right equipment or time to investigate the readings. And as far as I'm aware no one else has investigated it."

"Why do even want me to investigate this?" Shepard asked impatiently.

To her, it seemed like a waste of valuable time, something they didn't have unlimited amount of on their mission.

"While the readings scream element zero, it could possibly be something else, a new type of energy source, ancient ruins, the possibilities are intriguing. And besides, you did incredibly good work on Horizon Shepard, you deserve something a little... less intense for a little while"

"God dammit that wasn't a victory! Half of the colonists on that planet got taken by those _things_ , and i still need a way to hit them, i don't like chasing them around everywhere as if their ghosts."

While what Shepard said was true, there was another particular, large reason why she didnt like what happened on horizon. When she saw Kaidan, and what he said to her, it struck deep. Yet when she really thought about it and put herself in his shoes, part of her could understand where he was coming from. If their roles were replaced, and she had saw him come back after two years of being dead, she would probably snap too. That still didn't take away the fact that it hurt. She truly did love the man, and really wanted him on her team, but despite her efforts, it wasn't enough. She was also starting to miss the good 'Stress release' nights as he had called them, shortly after defeating Saren and Sovereign, while searching for any pockets of geth resistance. While in reality it had been two years for everyone else, it all felt like yesterday since she woke up on that operating table.

"Thats exactly what I'm trying to do Shepard, though its going to take some time. And despite what you think about Horizon, it was better then we could have we could have hoped for. Whether you like it or not. I'm still working on new dossiers for you, but i will contact you when i have more for you"

Shepard let out a large huff, her nostrils flaring "Alright, I guess i did good work. But lets not get off topic, wheres this planet, Canalus?

"Its a relatively barren world, and only a single Relay jump from the system your in. While in the end its up to you to go there or not, i would highly recomend doing so"

And with that, he tapped a button on the arm rest of his chair, cutting the connection.

"Joker?" Shepard asked out loud.

"Yes commander?" The pilot responded on the comns.

"Did you hear that?"

"Yes Ma'am, you want me to plot a course to Canalus?"

Shepard waited a few moments before responding, contemplating on whether or not she should.

On one hand, if it turned out to something stupid, it would be a serious waste of valuable time, which was of the essence for the mission.

On the other hand, it could be something very valuable, and could be a good asset to the team, whatever it was

Shepard had no idea how right she was.

 _'Eh, Fuck it'_ She thought

"Do it"

* * *

While the shuttle began its descent down to the planet, Shepard observed her team in front of her.

on the left, there was Mordin Solus. A certified Salarian genius, he had sealed the deal on horizon, allowing them to survive the seeker swarms with the life saving armor modifications. He was also no amateur in combat, being a former special tasks group member, his missing horn and scars upon his face attesting to that.

On the right, there was Grunt. His seemingly endless bloodlust often did get annoying in combat, but Shepard could not the deny the fact that the young Krogan was a a walking tank, and definitely the second best next to her in combat. And in when things got heated in a firefight, he was toughest SOB one could ask for.

Or so she thought...

"Shepard! Energy readings off the charts, extremely interesting. Possibilities very intriguing. Could be new energy source to be harnessed, ancient ruins, or could kill us all. looking forward to results " The fast talking Salarian said, genuinely intrigued by the information on his omni-tool.

"Bah! This seems pointless, it is probably something meaningless" Grunt exclaimed, uninterested in anything that had to with something other than combat. But due to the fact that he was a tank bred Krogan, Shepard wasn't all surprised.

"Come on Grunt, lighten up a bit, a lack of danger isn't going to to kill you" Shepard said with clear equal annoyance and boredom in her voice.

Grunt simply simply let out a huff and silence reigned the shuttle again.

They soon landed near an odd looking tunnel system, where the energy readings were coming from.

"The readings are getting progressively higher, we are close" Mordin informed the group.

It took them a while to navigate through the rather complicated tunnel system, but eventually they found it, and what they found was something no one could have possibly predicted.

An extremely large human was lying down in what looked like a small, newly formed crater. The giant was encased in somewhat rather bulky looking armor, but at the same time, it looked rather sleek, and cutting edge. The paint scheme was a deep dark blue, and looked rather aesthetically appealing. It appeared customized, as the shoulder pads/Armor was different. The helmet had a pitch lack visor, and offered a much better field of a vision than that of an Alliance trooper. On the top left of the breast plate there seemed to be an emblem of some sort. A single pitch black wolf, on a cliff, howling up at two at two large glowing moons in the clouded dark sky above.

"Mordin do a sc-"

"Already done. Incredible. Metal seems to be made out of extremely dense titanium, better then what we have even on _Normandy_." Mordin said, clearly excited and fascinated on equal levels. "No element zero coming directly from armor, but from crater instead, possible stealth system maybe? No, suit is far too small to posses one. larger than average sized human, appears to be male, based on body shape. Armor appears to be powered by a hybrid of fusion-plasma power cells, extremely advanced. Appears to customized, due to shoulders and emblem. Hmmm. He seems to be fine, besides unconscious of course. Also local A.I., appears to be installed in armor as well, most likely helmet. Denying all access to armor systems, but not attempting any hacks on my own. Wants help perhaps? Seems like logical conclusion".

Shepard was utterly flabbergasted by the amount of information that was just dropped on her, and a many questions ran through her mind.

"Wait, back up a second Mordin. Fusion-plasma cells? A.I.? The largest Fusion generator he have on the _Normandy_ is the size of an Elcor, how can he have a fusion-plasma hybrid in his armor.?" Shepard essentially thought out loud, having no intentions of holding back her skepticism about all the info bombarded on her.

Mordin simply ignored Shepard's questions, instead focusing on scanning the colossal Human with his omni-tool.

"A.I. extremely advanced as well, if wanted, could hack systems with little effort, but chooses not to. Most definitely wants help, recommend taking back to _Normandy_ for in depth analysis" Mordin informed

Mordin, are you sure its not a V.I? I mean, EDI takes up a whole room, how can he have one in his helmet?"

"Please Shepard, not an apprentice technician, scans and evidence only point to A.I. And does not seem to be hostile" Mordin explained to Shepard, with some amusement in his voice, due to Shepard's astonishment

"Alright Mordin, if you say so" Shepard said, wanting to find out just who this guy was just as much as Mordin did.

 _'Guess it was something interesting after all '_ Shepard mused to herself, glad she chose to come to the seemingly desolate planet.

Shepard went to pick up the giant of a Human, only to find that when she tried to pick the man up, despite the extensive cybernetics cerberus had implanted in her during her reconstruction, she could barely nudge him, let alone pick the giant up.

After a couple of useless tries later, Shepard gave up, and backed off.

"Mordin, do another scan find out how much our mystery man weighs" Shepard jokingly asked, despite panting like she had ran a mile after trying to lift the giant.

"Of course, one moment please"

Mordin brought up his omni-tool once more and scanned the giant again.

"Interesting, user and suit seems to weigh one thousand total " Mordin informed, not surprised as Shepard thought he should have been.

"What? No Human i know could ever hope to wear something that. Theres something different about this guy. Grunt, you know what do" Shepard said, pointing behind her. at the giant

"humph, you Salarians and Humans are weak, maybe this one is different" Grunt spoke as he picked the man up, surprised as even he had to think twice as he did so.

Joker then cut in through the comns

"Commander, the signals pretty patchy, what you guys find down there? Joker asked.

Shepard was confused as on what to tell Joker, what could she really say?

"you'll find out when we get there don't worry, just inform the doctor she'll have a... odd, patient under her care soon"

"yes ma'am"

"Alright, lets get back to the shuttle" Shepard told the squad, and they did just that.

* * *

 **YAY! i finally fucking updated. Sorry it took me so long, but they should be a little more frequent from now on.**

 **Anyways, i just wanted to let you guys know, this story will be very action packed, and not just romance.**

 **Second thing, this will be Max and the Normandy crews story, not anyone else's. No other characters from halo will be in the story, though they will most definitely be mentioned.**

 **Third thing, Max will have a loyalty mission, and it will involve something from halo, but no characters from it itself, you'll know in due time, don't worry.**

 **Thats all i wanted to say, so please RaR, and have have a fantastic day!**


	3. Awakening

_**Normandy SR-2, 2185, Lazarus cell, Medical bay**_ _._

For Shepard, what she was experiencing was quite simply, fucking weird. The reason being that if Shepard wanted to get to know her crew-mates better, or just have idle chit chat, etc. She would have to go to them in order to do so. It often proved tiresome and repetitive, but she felt compelled to do so regardless because she was their commander, and she always made sure to check on their mental health.

But that wasn't the case at the moment. Instead, Grunt, Jacob, Kasumi, Miranda, Garrus, Zaeed, Mordin, Jack, and Joker were gathered in the medbay, to see who the Mystery man Shepard had brought aboard was. And of course Chakwas was there as well, which wasn't unusual, considering she was the Normandy's resident Medical Professional.

"While I would be flattered that for once, you decided to come to me to talk, I know I'm not the reason you're all here" Shepard addressed her crew jokingly

"Well Shepard, it's not everyday that you decide to go to some weird place, and then come back bringing unconscious people into the medbay" Garrus said

"Its quite funny you say that Garrus, seeing as that's almost exactly how you ended up on the ship" Shepard retorted, referring to how she brought the turian onboard the Normandy from Omega

They all grinned at their charismatic commanders words, before Kasumi decided to speak up.

"Quite the find you got here Shepard. You have a knack for finding the most... Interesting people" The Normandy's resident thief whispered whilst eying the large man's gear, armor and weapons with a greedy look in her eye.

"That I do, however, you are not taking his things. Don't try to deny it, I know you too well." Shepard told the Japanese woman in amused tone

"Fine, but if he turns out hostile, then can I take his stuff?"

"Deal."

Garrus and Jacob couldn't help but but be intrigued by the unconscious man's gear, particularly his weapons, and the ammo they used.

"What type of weapon manufacturer makes gunpowder based weapons? They've been phased out for a while now." Jacob asked out loud, surprised by the seemingly primitive rifle he was looking at.

"Could be custom made, or from the Terminus Systems. There is more crazy, weird shit there than anywhere else in the galaxy." Zaeed speculated in his rough, haggard voice. The mercenary had done and seen quite a lot in his years, and he spoke from the experience garnered from them.

Shepard on the other hand, was far more curious about the stainless steel dog-tags they had found when going through the pouch on the mans left hip, as well as a curved sliver hilt looking item that glowed an ocean blue along the edges. She inspected the dog tags, and was intrigued by what she saw.

 _Carter-259_

 _6'9_

 _279 Pounds_

 _Alpha Company  
_

 _Kat-320_

 _6'8_

 _261 Pounds_

 _Beta Company  
_

 _Emile-239_

 _6'10_

 _286 pounds_

 _Alpha company  
_

 _Jorge-052_

 _7'3_

 _305 Pounds_

 _SPECWAR/GROUP THREE.  
_

 _Max-312_

 _6'11_

 _284 Pounds_

 _Beta Company  
_

 _Hyper lethal Vector_

None of what she read made any sense to her, and it it only left her more curious about where the hell this man came from, and who he was. What really irked Shepard, was that this man apparently had an A.I. inside his helmet according to Mordin. She didn't feel particularly threatened by it, as according to Mordin's scans, it was friendly, or at least non hostile.

 _What could help me learn more about a powerful, mysterious_ _A.I.?_ Shepard thought

The answer hit Shepard after a mere second of thinking.

 _My own  
_

"EDI, what have you been able to find out about the A.I. in this man's armor?" Shepard asked out loud

"Unfortunately, not much so far. It has been rather defensive every time I attempt to access its armor systems. With every attempt, it pushes me out as soon as I get in. However, what is most intriguing, and perhaps somewhat worrisome is that it has displayed the processing power and advancement perhaps comparable to beings such as Sovereign."

The entire room was quite visibly shocked by EDI's words, leaving an ominous feeling in the room, the crew muttering among themselves about what that could entail, but she didn't stop there.

"Additionally, I believe it may attempt to access the ships systems if it deems it necessary, and there is little chance I may be able to stop it." She said nonchalantly like she always did.

Shepard was now slightly panicking on the inside, but she kept cool. She realized that if she wanted to avoid anything potentially dangerous to the ship and crew, the giant of a man lying on the table would have to wake.

"Chakwas, you have anything to get this mystery man up?" Shepard asked the doctor

"I have already attempted to accelerate the process of his awakening, but every time I try to, his shields deflect the syringe easily. However, I predict he will wake any minute now." The doctor replied calmly. She always seemed to have a calm and collected exterior no matter the situation, being similar to Shepard in that regard.

"Well, I guess we wait" Shepard replied. And they did just that.

* * *

Kimbra was 'middle aged' for a UNSC A.I. She came into operational service a little over three years ago, being made/based off the dead brain of Miranda Keyes. Because of this, she took after the deceased woman in many ways. She was an excellent tactician, serious, and willing to take risks. She knew how to remain calm and instantly come up with solutions to any problem, whether big or small, unorthodox or simple.

But the last two and a half hours had all but shattered that.

The slipspace incident was completely unprecedented, and for a relatively short amount of time she and her newly assigned Spartan had traveled through the pitch black realm. There were no protocols in place for such a thing, after all, who would think of a single spartan going through the eleven dimensional plane that was known as slipspace?

Only ships of large mass were generally considered able to make it through slipspace, and it was thought unfeasible that anything smaller than a pelican could survive the journey through the dimension where the laws of physics and time were all but nonexistent.

After exiting slipspace, the pelican was somehow gone, and she found herself and Max in an odd cave system. What truly worried Kimbra was that Max seemed to be in some kind of coma. Despite multiple attempts, she was unable to wake him. His vital signs were green, and his brain activity showed brain waves similar to high intensity REM sleep.

Two Hours later, after doing everything she could to wake him and establish radio contact with anyone or anything (with no success), something somehow even stranger happened.

Two well armed unknown aliens walked into the cave, accompanied by a human female in front. The one to her right was tall but skinny, and had somewhat amphibian features, such as scaly looking skin, and dark, large eyes. From what she could tell, it was most likely male. It had two horns protruding from the top of its skull, but its right one was cut off at about half length. Apparently its name was 'Mordin' according to the human.

The woman, whose name was apparently 'Shepard' told the the amphibian like alien to scan Max, and it did so.

The lanky alien seemingly summoned what looked to be a orange holographic device upon its arm, and scanned Max with a wave of its limb. Kimbra instantly detected a multitude of various programs attempting to possibly access or relay info on the armor systems back to the alien. Kimbra had little difficulty expelling them out. It would take more than such pitifully weak things to breach a UNSC A.I.'s security.

The alien was surprised by the fact that it had been so quickly rejected, but it simply smiled and quickly told the woman (Whom Kimbra now theorized was their commander) About what basic things it had able to learn of Max's armor. It seemed absolutely amazed by the titanium plating and fusion plasma cells powering the MJOLNIR MKVII. But what intrigued it the most was that it had realized what casted it out of the armor systems was her, an A.I.

When it told the woman about her presence, she seemed quite surprised if her facial expression said anything. After some bantering between the two, the woman decided to try to pick Max up, only to find that she could barely nudge him.

Kimbra was tempted to hack into the alien's holographic device to try to find out what was going on, but she weighed the options in her mind.

On one hand, she could probably hack into the trio's armor systems with ease, and attempt to immobilize them. But if she were to do this, the chance of failure, albeit small, still existed and if she were to fail they would most likely turn hostile and attempt to kill her and Max. That was a risk she did not want to take, seeing as her Spartan's unconscious state left him and her defenseless.

On the other hand, if she allowed them to take Max and her to their base of operations, or star ship, there was a good chance she could gain access to their data files once Max awoke, and get a grip on what their situation was. There was the risk that the trio did not have the most pure intentions, and would possibly attempt to interrogate her and Max, or something else equally unfortunate was potentially waiting for them.

A couple of seconds was all the A.I. needed to make a decision. She was supposed to assist and protect Max to the best of her ability and the latter option would give him more time to wake up and make a decision for himself on what to do.

The human female ordered the alien called 'Grunt' on her left to pick up Max up, and it called the amphibian alien whose species name was apparently 'Salarian' weak, along with humans, remarking how Max may be different.

This 'Grunt' looked an awful lot like a reptile. It appeared quite muscular, a wide set of eyes, rough looking skin, and what looked be partially developed plating on the upper portion of its skull. It stood taller than the Woman, but shorter than the 'Salarian'.

The large alien managed to pick up Max and sling him over its shoulder (With an evidently large amount of effort) and walked out of the cave system with the other two. What awaited them outside was a large rectangular shaped shuttle. They entered and soon enough, left the planet. Shortly afterwards, they approached a relatively small ship called the 'Normandy' according to the trio, and the bolded word on the side of said ship.

It was only about a hundred and seventy meters in length, one of the smallest vessels Kimbra had ever seen. The smallest star ship most widely used in the UNSC navy post covenant war was the _Strident-_ Class frigate, and it was five hundred and seventy five meters in length, dwarfing this 'Normandy'

It was quite a sleek ship, with four proportionally large thrusters on the back, two on each side of the vessel. While no weapons were visible, Kimbra theorized that there potentially could be weapons simply not visible, but rather would come out of the ship during the combat. Its color scheme was orange, black and white, and the logo on the nose of the ship was the same.

They docked in a small hangar bay, and they walked towards an elevator which led them through multiple levels of the small ship, leading up to the third deck.

For what Kimbra assumed to be a Military vessel, the general atmosphere seemed pretty lax. Perhaps they were a scouting vessel for a larger fleet? That would explain the small design of the ship and small amount of crew-members.

The 'Grunt' went into the ships med bay, and unceremoniously set Max on the farthest table. The doctor who looked to be in her mid fifties did her best to analyze Max, and Kimbra let her, to an extent.

However, every time the doctor would attempt to inject him with a multitudes of syringes, Kimbra would block them with the MJOLNIR's shielding systems. The doctor gave up after three tries, knowing when to quit.

A small crowd seemed to form shortly after, with another odd, unknown alien coming that looked similar to an avian. It stood around 6'5, and she couldn't quite tell if its armor was very bulky, or it itself was.

Five other humans came into the room. Two of them, a man and a woman, wore the same logo she saw on the side of the ship before docking in the hangar. Another, who wore a cap and limped was apparently the pilot of the ship. Another was a shaved headed woman, who looked quite... shameless in her attire, and had many tattoos.

The fourth was a small woman, who wore a hood covering the top half of her face, and seemed to be content with being in the shadows.

The last was a man who looked to be quite rough. He had an old and scarred face, but he seemed to be in shape.

Whilst Kimbra was analyzing the various people in the room, she suddenly detected an intruding force aggressively pushing to gain access to the MJOLNIR's armor systems. At first, it smashed through Kimbra's initial basic security measures like paper. Whatever this was, it was far superior to what she fought off earlier. It had the initial element of surprise, but was quickly stopped by the more and more advanced cyber security as it got deeper into the systems, and Kimbra quickly casted it out.

She soon realized that it was in fact another another A.I., and if her scans were correct, it was housed in a room connected to the medical bay she and Max were in. It kept attempting to crack Kimbra's extensive firewalls, but kept finding less and less success each time.

KImbra turned her attention to Max's condition, trying to figure out a way to get him up. His vital signs were still green, and his brain waves had fallen back to normal levels. Every time she attempted to shock him through the suits gel layer, it was met with failure. When she yelled at him through his helmets internal speakers, he was completely unresponsive.

She did have one more choice, but she hesitant to use it.

Every Spartan generation had an upgraded neural interface in back of their skull, allowing them to house an A.I. the same a way a UNSC warship could. This amplified a Spartan's already legendary combat abilities, especially their seemingly instantaneous reaction times. Theoretically, she could alter his brain's adenosine, melatonin, and cortisol levels through the interface, and attempt to essentially jump start his mind.

However, this had never been done before, and while she was certain it couldn't kill him, there was the slight chance she could potentially injure him. After all, it wouldn't do for the arguably greatest soldier to ever exist to become paralyzed.

Shepard, the commander of the ship decided to ask the A.I., whose name was 'EDI', about its progress on getting info on her and Max.

Of course, it had little to offer, but compared her to something known as 'Sovereign' in advancement and capability. The whole room tensed hearing this, and seemed to be on edge at her presence now.

Fearing what potential hostile actions could happen soon, Kimbra saw no other option then to wake Max up through the neural interface.

She accessed the interface, gained control of his adenosine, melatonin, and cortisol hormones, lowering the first two's levels, whilst simultaneously supercharging his cortisol levels to start the onset of an adrenaline rush in order to wake him.

She was successful.

* * *

Max's whole body felt like it was encased in ice, his skin tingling and cold, his flesh sore and stiff, his mind foggy and confused. He had felt like this for what seemed an eternity, unable to speak or move, and wholly unaware of his surroundings.

He could barely think at all, like his brain was being hijacked by an out worldly force, thinking for him, maintaining an ironclad grip on his skull. Suddenly, he felt it release control, and his body went from cold and tired, to awake and on fire.

His memory washed over him like a tsunami

 _The Slipspace Portal_

Max quickly opened his eyes, taking in his surroundings as his body started to fully wake. He was lying down on a table akin to a large bed. To his right was an odd looking door and wall. He heard a feminine voice inside his helmet, whispering his name. It sounded... distant, but close all the same. He disregarded it.

He looked to the left.

The Spartan III was not pleased by what he saw.

Looking over him was a bulky reptilian like alien. Seeing Max move, it only moved closer, seemingly curious.

Given Max's hatred fueled hostility to nearly all and any extraterrestrials, plus his current adrenaline rush, the alien made a colossal mistake moving closer to the Super Soldier.

Moving nigh incomprehensibly fast, the Spartan was immediately on his feet, and easily threw the surprised alien across the room with a textbook judo shoulder throw. He saw a group of humans and two other unidentifiable aliens near where he threw the reptilian, most of whom were pointing various odd sidearms directly at him.

Looking to the other table, he saw his weapons and gear spread out.

Max quickly picked up the energy sword hilt that was out of its protective casing, and activated the Sangheili weapon and the small miniature version in his left gauntlet to face down the group which greatly outnumbered him.

"What the fuck?!" Shepard yelled, aiming her M-6 Carnifex at the man who somehow went from unconsciousness to actively hostile in a less than a second.

She was not expecting this to happen. The towering man had just thrown the strongest Krogan she ever knew (Next to Urdnot Wrex) like a rag-doll across the room in the blink of an eye. He grabbed the odd silver item she observed earlier and activated it, turning it into a blade of pure energy, and activated something similar in his left gauntlet.

The man was truly a giant, his presence intimidating and wholly encompassing, adorned in suit of armor that looked like something out of legend, wielding a weapon of equal awe inspiring mystery, and the crest of his helmet scant inches away from the ceiling.

The warrior did not attack, but appeared ready to engage Shepard and her squad at any second.

Max did not engage the group yet, his confusion from the current situation had his head spinning with countless questions and hypotheticals.

Just how long was he out?

Was he transported to another system? Another galaxy, even?

The voice in his helmet was growing louder, his name now more than a whisper. He disregarded it again.

Had he been transported through an unfathomable amount of time backwards? Perhaps forward? Time skips in slipspace travel were not completely unheard of occurrences, there having been a few multiple reported instances in the UNSC. But they were only minutes, hours, a couple days at the most. This would be a whole other level of different, if it were the case.

Max begrudgingly knew that if he wanted his questions answered, he would have to speak to the heavily armored woman who had now taken point ahead of the group, aiming her large pistol at his helm with a certain... Confidence, that he only saw in few individuals.

"Where am I?" Max spoke. His rough voice dominated the room, the group of humans and extraterrestrials complete and undivided attention easily becoming his.

"You are onboard the Normandy Sr-2, and I _strongly_ suggest that you deactivate your weapons." Shepard answered, her levity from earlier gone, replaced by firm authority.

"Give me a reason to" Max responded, Shepards tone having little affect on him.

Shepard was no amateur when it came to talks such as these, and she had a feeling it would come down to words to resolve the situation.

"Any information you want, I can give you. If you want, I can drop you off at any world of your choosing as soon as I am able. Thirdly, I can potentially give you a place on my team if you wish to join. But first, I need you to stand down." She said, smoothly as she was able.

Max thought about his options. As he was, he could probably kill the group in front of him, and subdue the rest of the area if need be, but that would most likely accomplish little for him in the long run.

The woman's offer was tempting, and he realized that it was his best chance to figure out what was going on. However, before he could speak his mind, someone else did.

"Spartan, can you hear me!" Kimbra's worried voice rang in his ear.

 _Of course_ Max thought, he had completely forgot about his recently assigned A.I.

Seeing that Kimbra had muted his helmets external speakers with a small blip on his HUD, he responded.

"Whats going on Kimbra, and where are we?" Max asked, his patience for the absurd situation slowly eroding away.

"I can't really explain it quickly, but these people mean us no harm Max, I assure you." The A.I. answered.

With no small deal of reluctance, Max deactivated his weapons. Shepard signaled her team to do the same, and they did so.

"So, I promised you info. I'm going to assume you want it? Shepard asked the man.

He only nodded.

"Well, I can answer any questions you want, and give you access to most of our databases." Shepard continued

Max only had one true question on his mind, one that he knew very well not be the answer he wanted.

"What Year is it?"

* * *

 **Yeah, yeah, I know, I took way too fucking long. Life still happens though, but I might be able to update more now that I got some free time and some motivation.**


End file.
